Monday, June 6, 2011

AWEROR

Sometime last summer I realized I didn't have a word to explain something that I often felt.
There were too many times in my life where, for example, I saw a musician play their ass off, and I left the performance feeling like I simultaneously wanted to quit playing all together, and go home and practice for the rest of the night.
I was in a state where my protons and electrons were flying in two different directions.
I was in total awe, and completely horrified by the things I had witnessed.
After some verbal drag-netting, the research and development area in my brain decided to settle in on the word 'AWEROR' to describe this feeling.
Spread the news.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Deb Roy - Words about Words

This is simply amazing research. It's crazy to think of all the data they were able to record and analyze. So many patterns, intersections and feedback loops going on here, it's dizzying!


Tuesday, September 28, 2010

SWET - 100 Pieces in 100 Days

My voyeurism gets turned on for well-executed vandalism...This brought me out of blog-hibernation...More to come soon. Still rubbing my eyes. Burn Mother Fucker, Burn!

SWET 100 Pieces in 100 Days

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Marjoe

...Short for Mary/Joseph. A relatively short documentary about a child-preacher who returns to the meeting circuit. I rank this right up there with those other 'Jesus Camp' and 'Hell House' christian evangelist films. This one had more resonance with me after Marjoe starts talking about how he was either born to be a front-man for a band or a preacher, and how he gets a lot of his moves from Mick Jagger...Scary.










Monday, May 3, 2010

Spastik Ink - A Wild Hare

As a young musician, this stuff really blew my mind the first time I heard it. I still get blown away by the technicality of it all. Seeing this for the first time recently really exemplified how much of a transcription and articulation feat this truly is. I remember listening to this song, and hearing from the friend who first introduced me to it that it had something to do with the Thumper parts in Bambi, but I never thought to do any research into it beyond that. I figured it would take me going to rent Bambi and arbitrarily lining the song up like the 3rd lion's roar for 'The Wall' and Wizard of Oz...Sometimes I forget where, or maybe in 'what age' I'm living - gems like this are only a few keystrokes away, and sometimes they find you.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Stephen Wolfram on the Theory Of Everything

Its no secret that the/a 'Universal Field Theory' is one of my favorite topics to graze the internet for. I'm a perpetual search for new and 'relate-able' ideas, and...here's another one, from TED, of course. That search-engine thing is ridiculous!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

I just learned Carlos Castaneda was a fraud!

Am I the last to know?!
I remember reading 'Journey To Ixlan' in high school and really spending a good amount of time ruminating on the experiences retold in that book. The ancient wisdom, the plant knowledge, the spirit world...After watching this documentary about the life and writings of Castaneda, my teenage ego is hurt, I feel personally betrayed. It really bothers me that he would defy the 'Golden Rule' of anthropology and put the very people he was writing about - as well as the plants and practices whose knowledge he was supposedly a strong proponent for - at a tremendous risk. This must be what all those Oprah book club 'Million Tiny Peices' readers felt...except the 4 women closest to the dead-beat dad author didn't presumably kill themselves in hopes of reuniting in 'Infinity.'

Band vs. Promoter

This helps me laugh about my life...

Watch The KLF Burn A Million Quid.

This is about as 'REAL' as shit gets...

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Before The Music Dies

This pretty much sums it up...I can't explain how frustrating and real this film is from my point of view. All I can add is to really support the stuff you like, it may not be around for much longer otherwise.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

James Oroc

Full interview with James Oroc, author of Tryptamine Palace, where he talks about DMT and other entheogens, the Akashic Field and his general take on psychedelic experiences in today's world.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

What's Wrong With What We Eat

I want to show this video to everyone who has ever asked me why I eat the way I do, or what the politics behind it are - is it for the animals, for my health, for the environment - I think its all of the above and a lot more...it doesn't answer all the questions, but he covers a lot in 20 minutes.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Paul Stamets

Some of my oldest memories are of stealing a small glass mushroom my Mom had displayed in a printers box on our wall which was filled with other iconic knick knacks. I was mysteriously obsessed with this mushroom, and consequently all others since. I've spent adult days digging through attic boxes searching for it again to no avail...chances are I'm the one who lost it in the first place some 25 years ago; my Mom has no idea where it is.
I remember reading this guys books on growing mushrooms years ago when I was experimenting with growing them myself. Its always funny when names like this come back around in a big way. A few days ago I was directed here to an audio interview he did with David Wolfe in which he talks about everything from Longevity to some rather Michael Pollan-esque ideas about mycellium being natures internet and the biosphere taking advantage of us humans to forward its agenda and finally about halfway through he tells a story about psilocybn mushrooms curing him of stuttering...Intense stuff.
Needless to say, if he's on this blog, I'm stoked about him and all the connections he's making between the environment, saving it, and more loosely, psychedelics. This is big. Enjoy.


Monday, January 18, 2010

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Back In Black

Trying to stay on the blog-wagon...

Friday, October 2, 2009

Hannes Coetzee - Herbertsdale

This dude is certainly reinventing a few things in some undeniably 'real' ways, and gives the Spoonman from the Soundgarden song a very 'real' run for his money.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Kriyananda and Yogananda

Swami Kriyananda, disciple of "Master" Paramahansa Yogananda (Author of the incredible 'Autobiography of a Yogi' amongst his other accomplishments) gave a talk this last weekend in Los Angeles about his time spent with Yogananda, and what has happened in the 50 or so years since Yogananda's death - which is a miraculous story in and of itself.
I didn't make it to this talk, seeing the video is almost as rewarding. I did, however, go to another, smaller gathering a few days later at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, specifically at the non-denominational Church of the Recessional, where Kriyananda again spoke with an abundance of humor about his life with Yogananda, reincarnation, and the perfection of desire.
Sometimes I find myself drawn and quartered at the intersection of faith and science. Is it possible to have respect for Richard Dawkins and his crew while maintaining a strong sense of a higher consciousness? I hope there are others out there who can take the essence of all these teachings and distill them into something practical, which is all I'm trying to do. As Kriyananda was wrapping up his talk, and answering questions, someone asked something about the practicality of spirituality, to which he answered "there is nothing more practical than spirituality" to a resounding carom of laughter and applause.
After the talk, Swami Kriyananda received people outside, I knelt before him, with absolutely nothing and simultaneously everything to say to and ask of him, yet in his presence the chatter of my mind ceased. He smiled one of the most memorable and sincere smiles I've ever born witness to, looked past my eyes, and touched me lightly between them...I can't stop thinking of that moment, I hope its a memory I'll never forget, and I've been very deliberately closing my eyes from time to time, focusing on that third-eye place and seeing Kriyananda there, smiling.
Finally, I went to the Mausoleum where Yogananda's crypt is...I found it slightly strange that he was placed amongst mere mortals with nary a epitaph suggesting who he was when he was living. I guess, ultimately, he is not in there, his soul is long gone, but I still believe his body should be placed somewhere more profound. It's akin to burying 'Jesus' in a shoebox in your backyard...I guess I'm not the only one who feels this way as there are proceedings with the local authorities to have his body moved to Mount Washington in Los Angeles where he founded The Self-Realization Fellowship, but its been over 50 years since he died, what's the holdup?



Update 10/2/09 - I found a video of the talk I attended, so I'll post this too: